Mustafa Othman appointed delegate of the AL to Iraq

The former advisor for the Sudanese President Mustafa Othman Ismael was appointed a delegate from the Arab League to Iraq with the aim to help in preparing for the inter- Iraqi reconciliation conference to be held in February 2005.

AL sources said that the secretary general of the Arab League asked Ismael to follow up the situation in Iraq and to prepare for the conference. The date for Ismael arrival in Baghdad was not set yet.

Recently, the AL started to move after the Iraqis accused it of lack of performance towards them after the toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003. By the end of November this year, the AL patroned a meeting among various Iraqi groups in Cairo in order to bring closer the Iraqi view points. This move is prior to the February, 2006 conference which will bring together prominent political forces in Iraq.

Moussa headed to Iraq I October when he proposed the convening a reconciliation conference. The AL assistant secretary general for Arab affairs Ahmad Bin Hali to Baghdad by the beginning of November to follow up this file.

Recently, the AL secretary general mediated with the authorities, at the request of the Iraqi Sunni Arab leaders, in order to halt the military operations inside the Sunni cities.